MELBOURNE TO CAIRNS

I have been thinking about starting the journal of this adventure for 3 weeks now – only slightly less time than we’ve actually been planning it!!  No not really, but almost.  At the start of the year Dad (who turns 80 next month) decided we’d all celebrate with a trip to Cairns.  To add to the excitement of this trip we decided to incorporate this far north Queensland birthday celebration with one of our buck list trips – Cape York. 

This time the logistics have not been as simple – compared to our last big Australian adventure, which by the way was 7 years ago!  7 years ago the kids were 10 down to 4 when we set off.  Now they’re 18 down to 11 – a completely different beast.  As a result the logistics around who would come and when are eye watering. Leaving the Grandparents (who are currently in charge) in a spin at times.  As long as they stick to the spreadsheet of events, we’ll all be in the right spots at the right time to pull it off.

 

In short, we’ve planned hard in a short amount of time and put together a plan that ticks all the boxes.  Andrew and I set off, alone, at a very civilized time of 8:15AM on Monday 13^th June (Queen’s birthday long weekend).  We pointed our nose north and set off – with no firm plan set, just seeing where we got to.  The only plan was the route – north through Shepparton, over the border and on to The Kidman way.  Both Andrew and I have driven to QLD many times, but not on The Kidman way, the route was made up of old stock routes primarily owned (previously) by Sir Sidney Kidman.  The Kidman way starts just north of Jerilderie and finishes up in Bourke – roughly 660 kms.

For most of the route the road was ordinary, bumpy, single lane without a shoulder, which is probably why it was so quiet.  We made it to Cobar on the first night – a very small town born through Copper mining.  Cobar had limited options for eating, so we found ourselves at the RSL.  The food was surprisingly good, even though we opted NOT to have the $60 steak meal!!  Day one ticked off 813kms.

From Cobar we were headed further north to Bourke – growing up in Australia Bourke is a name synonnomous with early pioneers and I think I expected Bourke to live up to it’s infamous name.  I was pretty disappointed.  In fact the entire Kidman Way surprised me, much more remote than I expected and from first appearances the towns were run down and sad. 

 

From Bourke we travelled further north over the border into Queensland, the roads improved as did the quality of the towns.  At Charleville we turned right and drove east to Roma, our stop for the night.  Day two ticked off 880 kms.

Day three saw us head further north again through Emerald, Clermont and on to Charters Towers – lots of long desserted roads.  We spent our final night in Charters Towers.  Day three ticked off 879 kms.

 

Day four was our final leg into Cairns.  We stopped for lunch in Townsville and before spending the final few hours driving along the ‘coast’ up to Cairns.  We checked into our motel for the night, happy to have the long drive behind us (trying not to think about the reverse trip we’ll do in just under a month).  Day four ticked off 481 kms.

 

With just over 24 hours to fill before the girls fly in – we made a list and set about ticking things off.  Food, equipment and repacking the car (to make room for 3 more bodies) – we even squeezed in a movie – Top Gun 2.  At 7:05PM the girls flew in – so exciting to see them and have us all back together, only a little bit weird not having Olivia with us.  We made our way straight to Port Douglas for the night – the girls were stoked to discover a pool at our accommodation – a swim before bed!!  The following morning we made one last fuel and supermarket stop before the adventure was all set!!

 

No turning back now!